Saturday, April 19, 2014

Are you afraid to start?

Sometimes
it can be very intimidating to touch a lovingly created quilt top, a
piece that has taken hours of hand crafting. Will your quilting make
it better? Will it make the piece sing? What if you think you are not
up to the challenge? What if your hands can't do what your mind sees?

Well,
guess what? Even the most successful, award-winning quilters are
scared at the start of a project. Karen McTavish, a pioneer in
heirloom machine quilting, and the originator of the McTavishing fill
design, says she is nervous and fearful every time she faces a new
quilt top from a customer. She has a couple of suggestions. The first
and most basic is “take a deep breath, relax and have fun.” I
would also add, “have a plan, but be flexible.”

Quilting
the hand-applique quilt is a special challenge, and should be handled
much differently from quilting a patchwork piece. On the applique
quilt the stitching should be subtler, playing a more supportive
role, that of texture. On patchwork, quilting can be bold. But,
hand-applique work is delicate, almost fragile in appearance.
Especially when it is well done.

This
piece is small, just a little over 2 foot square. The spaces between
the flowers and leaves are especially tiny. So, I chose a form of
McTavishing that Karen calls “clam shelling.” This begins with
lazy “S” shapes, echoed over and over until the space is filled.
When necessary, the lazy “S” shapes can slip in between the
leaves and tendrils, giving the piece an evenly quilted texture.

A
few other suggestions from Karen – Do the hardest thing, it always
pays off in the end. Ouch, that one hurts! But, she is absolutely
right. She also says what doesn't kill you makes you a better
quilter.

So,
be scared! We all are. But, we do this because we love this. So,
relax, take a deep breath and have fun!